Guinness to determine if Michigan woman is world's oldest

Posted: Tuesday, August 07, 2001

COLDWATER, Mich. (AP) -- Researchers at the Guinness Book of Records are trying to determine if a Michigan woman is the world's oldest living person.

The family of Maud Farris-Luse says she was born Jan. 21, 1887, in Morley. That would make her 114. Documentation of her age was sent to Guinness offices in London. Farris-Luse's birth certificate was misplaced, but her family is confident her age will be authenticated with the aid of U.S. Census Bureau records and a wedding license from 1903.

''They're waiting for all the documents to come through,'' said Ted Gideonse, a Guinness representative in New York. ''If everything is confirmed, then she'll probably be declared the oldest person alive.''